D&G - the place for Quality of Life

The National Office for Statistics has just published its findings on the best and worst places to live in the UK - these are measured according to indicators for 'quality of life' such as 'lack of stress', 'self-worth', 'life satisfaction' etc.

The optimistic and stress free folk of D&G will be unsurprised to learn that we came out pretty well in the findings:

Life Satisfaction - 3rd place in UK
Happiness - 2nd place in UK
Stress Free Living - 1st place in the UK

Bizarrely we only found out about these amazing findings because Saskia Coulson saw them in a Metro paper in London and sent us a photo:

Of course this stuff needs to be taken with a sizeable pinch of salt......BUT we in the arts are in a continual fight to justify our existence......we are constantly being asked to produce 'evidence' of what we do.

So..... 

The South of Scotland Competitive Strategy 2008-2013 outlines the vision of the South of Scotland Alliance for supporting the growth of the economies within the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway.
The strategy outlines priorities for the region- which include:
•    retain and attract more people of working age
•    Improve micro-business support and growth potential (arts businesses are micro-businesses)
•    build a distinctive high quality sustainable place to live, work and visit and enjoy
•    develop the coastal and land based assets of the South of Scotland.

It is pretty well established (anyone out there got any 'evidence'?) that the arts, heritage and culture score really highly when people are asked what makes D+G a good place to live....being a good place to live is listed as one of the factors for economic growth (and definitely a key way to 'retain and attract more people of working age')

So, this survey in a newspaper in London is further evidence that the arts are contributing to the economic success of the region....QED - simples